Rise of the Guardians: Baby Jack
by ViolentFluffernutter
Summary: The first part of my Guardians Fanfic Saga. When Jack Frost is turned into a baby, Tooth will have to act as his mother.
1. Chapter 1

Chapter One

It had been three years since Pitch's defeat, and the Guardians had gathered at the North Pole for their annual celebration. Bunnymund was helping himself to a big plate of baby carrots on toothpicks, while Tooth Fairy hovered over his shoulder, reminding him to floss after eating.

"Get away, ya fluttery featherbrain!" the irritable rabbit growled, "Carrots make your teeth stronger, didn't you know that?"

"No," Tooth retorted, "carrots help your eyesight."

North came to stand beside his two friends, chuckling heartily, "If you want to make bones stronger, Bunny, then you should drink milk like me!" He held an oversized mug of milk in front of Bunnymund's nose, sloshing the drink around invitingly.

"Leave me alone, you jelly bellied old geezer!"

"Ha, your loss!" the large man laughed, taking swig from the mug.

"You know what's better than milk?" Jack Frost asked, gliding over to his friends with a mischievous look in his eye. "Ice cream!"

The silver haired Guardian reached out and touched North's mug, freezing the milk inside solid. North's eyes went wide, and he tried to pull the mug away, but his tongue had become stuck to the frozen milk!

"Oh, vewwy fuddy," he grumbled. A passing yeti saw North's predicament, and decided to help. Grabbing the old man's head with one massive hand, it took old of the mug in the other, and jerked both of them in opposite directions, wrenching North's tongue free in a most painful manner. Jack collapsed onto the floor in a fit of laughter.

"Id's dot fuddy!" North reprimanded them all, his tongue hanging out of his mouth, stinging from the cold.

Sandy drifted by lazily, a cloud of sand appearing over his head to spell the words "HA HA HA."

"Here, I think I've got something that should help that," Tooth offered, trying to hold back her own laughter. She conjured a small bottle of bright green liquid. Popping the cork, she fluttered over to pour it on North's tongue. Immediately, the redness went away, and North pulled it back into his mouth.

"Thank you, Tooth," he said, giving the others the evil eye. "It is good to know that I have ONE friend here."

"Oh lighten up," Bunnymund chuckled, slugging the big man's arm. "Frost got you good this time!"

Pushing the oversized rabbit away, North cleared his throat and quickly composed himself again, "Well, my friends, yet another year passes without Pitch to threaten the precious children of the world. We should all feel proud for this victory, for we all fought bravely that night! And furthermore…"

As North continued his speech, Tooth felt her mind begin to drift elsewhere. Across the room from her, Jack was perched on his ever present staff, obviously not enjoying North's words either. She sighed silently as she gazed at the young man. He was so handsome. If only he would think of her as more than a friend. Seeing that she was looking at him, Jack winked coyly and began to mimic North's exaggerated movements behind the old man's back.

"You have something you would like to add, Jack?" North asked, spinning around and catching Frost in a ridiculous pose.

"Nope, not a thing!" Jack answered with a sly grin.

"Good, then you will not mind if we proceed to what I want to show to you all, no?"

With that, the large man turned and walked down one of his lair's many hallways. The other four guardians exchanged confused glances with each other before following him. What on earth could he want to show them?

"This, my friends, will change everything!" North announced once the others had caught up with him. "I have solved our greatest dilemma!"

"And just what dilemma is that?" Bunnymund challenged him. "Your cookie addiction?"

"You all know what it is that makes children stop believing in us, yes?" North continued, ignoring Bunnymund. "It is that as they grow older, their inner child dies! They succumb to the mind numbingly boring life that adults are expected to lead. And that, my friends, is the problem my latest invention has fixed!"

Now North had everyone's attention. "You mean you can make them believe in us again?" Tooth asked, zipping over to hover next to him. "How?"

"With this!" North proclaimed, opening the closest door and ushering his friends inside. Before them stood a giant machine, towering high above them all. It was cone shaped, very large at the bottom and narrowing to a point at the top. A mechanical arm extended from the top, long and narrow, like a pipe.

"This, my friends," North said, as if introducing them to the machine, "is my Child Reviver Machine! All we have to do is direct the laser it shoots at someone, and their inner child will immediately be reawakened, as if it had never gone away at all!"

"Does it work?" Bunnymund asked, walking around the machine.

"It is still in the early stages of development," North admitted. "But progress is coming along nicely! Before long, my friends, every adult on earth will believe in us once more!"

The Sandman wasn't convinced, and he made it clear when he made the image of a person exploding appear in sand above his head.

"Not to worry, Sandy!" North laughed. "Laser is completely harmless! Watch!"

Walking to the control panel, North powered up the machine with a loud whir. The mechanical arm sprung to life and swiveled towards a nearby yeti. The yeti immediately put its hands up in surrender, but North only laughed and pushed a big red button. A blue streak of light shot from the gun, hitting the yeti square in the face. It obviously wasn't harmed, as it merely blinked a couple times before skipping away with a childish grin on its face.

"It has only been tested on yetis," North reported, "but soon we will be ready to test it on a human adult!"

Intrigued, Jack's feet left the floor, and he flew up to get a closer look at the gun. Tapping it with his staff, he asked, "what exactly is it that this thing shoots?"

"That is trade secret, my friend," North winked. "Don't want any of you to be stealing my idea, do we?"

"Well, it looks like it works fine to me," Bunnymund said. "What else are you waiting for?"

"It still has a couple of bugs to work out, nothing dangerous." Suddenly, the machine began to whir and hum on its own. "Speak of the devil, here it goes now."

Tooth flew backwards a few wing beats to distance herself from the malfunctioning machine. Looking up, though, she gasped! Jack was still hovering at the top of the machine, directly in front of the gun, completely unaware of what was happening.

"Jack, watch out!" she shouted, but she was too late. A second beam of bright blue light shot from the gun, striking Jack in the chest, propelling him backwards, straight into the wall. Apparently losing consciousness, Jack then fell to the floor with a loud thud.

"Jack!" all of the Guardians exclaimed at the same time (with the exception of Sandy), and hurried over to help their friend. When they arrived at the place where he had fallen, though, they all gasped in shock. Where Jack had hit the ground laid a pile of his clothes, completely empty.

"What happened?" Bunnymund demanded. "Where's Jack?"

"I- I don't know!" North replied, obviously at a complete loss. "Nothing like this has happened to anyone who my laser struck before!"

Tooth fluttered back and forth over the pile of clothes, frantically searching for any clue as to where her friend had gone. "You vaporized him!" she cried. "He's gone!"

But then there came a soft noise from within the pile of clothes. All of the guardians froze and leaned in closer. There it was again, a soft, barely audible cooing sound. Tentatively, North reached out and lifted Jack's shirt off the ground.

There, nestled inside Jack's clothes, was a little boy, no more than two, with a mop of silver hair on top of his head.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter Two

All the Guardians could do for a few moments was stare at the little child sitting inside Jack Frost's clothes. The boy looked back up at them, his wide blue eyes blinking in curiosity, as if he wasn't sure what to think of all these strange people gathered around him.

"Where's Jack?" Bunnymund asked again. "And who's this?"

"I think…" Tooth stuttered, unable to comprehend what was going through her head. "I think this _is_ Jack!" Before Bunnymund could reply, she pointed at the child, "Look, he's even got the same color of hair as Jack."

A big question mark appeared over Sandy's head, echoing the thought that was going through all of their minds at the moment.

"But how?" North asked.

"It's your machine, you tell us!" Bunnymund shouted, poking the fat man in his stomach.

"I have no idea how this happened!" North retorted.

"What do you mean you have no idea?" the giant rabbit demanded, standing up as tall as he could, trying to match North's height. "You built the stupid machine! Don't you know anything about it?"

"Of course I built it!" North roared back, his face growing red with anger. "But I have never heard of something like this happening before! A grown man- and a _Guardian_ no less- being reduced to nothing more than a small child? It's completely unheard of!"

"Well, you'd better do something, or I'm gonna do something to you!" Bunnymund threatened, pulling out one of his famous boomerangs.

"Stop it!" Tooth shouted, who was still standing over Baby Jack. "You're scaring him!"

Tooth's outburst left both men staring at her, shocked. It wasn't often that the Tooth Fairy lost her temper. But her words had been true- Baby Jack Frost was sitting in his former clothes, crying in fright.

"Aw, gee, we didn't mean it!" Bunnymund apologized, quickly putting away his boomerang. Like all of the Guardians, he had a special place in his heart for children- even if they were over 300 years old.

"Yes," North agreed, grabbing Bunnymund and giving him a Christmas Noogie. "We were just having joke! Funny joke! Right, Funny Bunny?"

"Oh, absolutely!" the rabbit replied, keeping a smile on his face for Jack's sake, though in truth he really wanted to wallop North.

Baby Jack stopped crying for a moment and looked at the two men with a confused look on his face. Then he turned to Tooth, and held out his arms to be picked up. Tooth's eyes went wide, and she fluttered backwards a couple wing beats, her fist covering her mouth in surprise.

"What are you waiting for?" North asked. "Pick up the baby!"

In truth, Tooth wanted to pick up Baby Jack. What held her back was the shock. Every day for the past three years, she had desperately wished that an opportunity would arise when Jack Frost would need her as much as she felt she needed him. Deep in her heart, though she would never _ever_ tell anybody, she had been harboring a fantasy. Tooth had dreamed that she would someday come across Jack crying his eyes out, his heart completely broken. She would sit down with him and wrap his cold figure in her warm, feathery embrace, and let him cry all of his sorrows away on her shoulder. It wouldn't matter how long it took, or what he was crying about, so long as she would be the one who got to comfort him back to his mischievous, playful self. It would be the least she could do after he had comforted her the same way when Pitch had stolen her teeth and kidnapped her little fairies.

And now it seemed that that opportunity had finally come.

Fluttering forward again, she lowered herself closer to the ground and gently scooped Baby Jack up into her arms, holding him against her soft, downy bosom. The child cooed softly and wrapped his little arms around her before drifting off to sleep. Tooth sighed in contentment. He was so adorable.

"Can I hold him?" North asked tentatively.

"No!" Tooth hissed at him, trying not to wake up the sleeping child. There was a fire burning in her eyes that made North step back in alarm. "It's your fault he's like this in the first place! You're going to get back to work on your stupid machine right now, and you're going to find a way to change him back. _I'll_ take care of him until then." Without another word, Tooth turned and flew out of the room.

"I wanted to hold him too," Bunnymund said dumbly.

"This is _not_ my fault," North grumped.

Rolling his eyes in annoyance, Sandy formed a large hand out of sand and whacked both of them on the back of the head.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter Three

The sun began to set on the long day as North made his way into the room where Tooth and Baby Jack had gone to get away from the hustle and bustle of the Christmas preparations. Even in the middle of April, the entire place was abuzz with activity as the yetis did their jobs and the elves did… whatever they felt like doing. He found Tooth and Jack sitting in a corner, the fairy reading the child a story from a book she had found.

"Now Dasher! Now, Dancer! Now, Prancer and Vixen!" she read in a loud dramatic voice, pointing to each of the reindeer in as she said its name. "On, Comet! On, Cupid! On, on Donner and Blitzen! To the top of the porch! To the top of the wall! Now dash away! Dash away! Dash away all!"

North stopped to watch for a moment. Tooth took to the air, mimicking the reindeer flying away, much to Baby Jack's delight as he laughed and clapped his tiny hands. Tooth flew in a circle around the child with a "whoosh!" before landing in front of him again and retaking her seat.

"That is my favorite part!" North laughed.

Tooth jumped at his words, as if she hadn't even known he was there.

"How's the machine?" she asked, closing the book.

"Well, good news and bad news," he admitted. "Good news is that I know what caused the gun to fire by itself." He held up an elf by its jingling hat. "The little oaf somehow managed to get inside and chew on the wires."

"And what's the bad news?" Tooth asked.

"The bad news is that it will take longer to fix than I anticipated."

"How long?"

"A week, at the least." North cringed, expecting the news to anger the fairy again.

"Hmm," Tooth hummed to herself, looking thoughtfully back at Baby Jack. "All right, you do what you need to do. I'll take care of Jack in the meantime."

The Tooth Fairy picked Jack up again and rubbed his belly, "I think he's hungry, do you have anything here for him to eat?"

"Of course!" the large man exclaimed. "We have everything a child could ever want to eat here." He began counting on his fingers, "We have sugar cookies, chocolate chip cookies, peanut butter cookies, oatmeal cookies…"

"No!" Tooth interrupted him. Flying in front of him, she gently pulled Jack's lips aside to show off his shiny white teeth. "Look at those beautiful teeth! I'm not going to let you rot them all out! Don't you have anything to eat that isn't full of sugar?"

"Um," North faltered. "I think so… somewhere." He hollered to the nearest yeti, "You, go and bring something for this child to eat! Something not sugary!" The yeti spoke back in its garbled language. "I don't know, just bring anything you can find!" He paused for a moment, and then said, "Peanut butter and jelly sandwiches! Those are healthy, right? Bring us some of those!"

A few minutes later, the yeti came bumbling up to them, carrying a large platter full of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches in one arm and another full of glasses of milk in the other. Setting them down on a nearby table, the yeti saluted and walked away. Baby Jack saw the food and immediately began to hold out his arms towards it.

"Mine, mine!" he mumbled.

"Oh, so he can talk?" North mused, handing him a sandwich, which he promptly began to devour.

"Only a little bit," Tooth confirmed, setting him on the floor again. "He knows a few words here and there, but he can't speak in sentences."

Once Jack had finished his sandwich, North handed him a glass of milk. Grabbing it with both of his tiny hands, Jack tipped it backwards, effectively spilling it all over himself. Dropping the glass, he began to cry again.

"Uh oh," Tooth soothed him, bending down to wipe his face with a napkin, "somebody made a mess!"

As she cleaned Jack up, North couldn't help but notice the look she had in her eyes. A look of tenderness, one like he had not seen before in her before, not even when she was with her little fairies. It worried him.

"I'm going to take him back to my place," she announced. "I'll bring him back when you've made progress on the machine."

"Tooth," North said, placing his hand cautioningly on her shoulder, "do not become too attached to him like this. Remember, this is not permanent. We are going to turn him back as soon as we can."

"Shut up!" Tooth hissed, her anger aroused once more. She picked up Jack and flew towards the door.

"Tooth, I am only trying to help," North protested. "You are not Jack's mother, so do not allow yourself to believe you are."

"Leave me alone!" she shouted before flying through an opening in the ceiling, taking Jack with her.

"What's her problem?" Bunnymund asked, casually walking up, chewing on a carrot.

"I am worried about her," North answered.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter Four

**Please note, I know that the place is (probably) not called Tooth Palace, but since I couldn't find anything that told me what its real name was, I just went with that.**

The little fairies could all tell that something was going on when Tooth returned to Tooth Palace. Tooth had wrapped Jack in a blanket before taking off so that he wouldn't get cold. It was, she realized, a pointless effort, he was _Jack Frost_ after all, but doing so made her feel better. As she zipped through the air, zigzagging her way around the various hanging buildings that housed her millions of precious teeth, a crowd of smaller fairies formed behind her, curious to see what she had brought home with her.

When Tooth landed on the pedestal outside her home, she gently raised her tiny parcel up for the other fairies to see and unwrapped it. When they saw what was in her arms, they all squeaked in delight and moved in closer to get a better look. Jack smiled at all the colorful hummingbird people and reached out to try and grab them. A particularly brave one came forward and perched on his outstretched hand, but leaped off again when she felt how cold it was. She chirped a question to her queen.

"Yes, ladies, this is Jack Frost," Tooth answered, looking down at the child lovingly. "There was an accident at the North Pole, so he's going to be this way for a while. We're all going to make sure he feels right at home, aren't we?" The other fairies all nodded energetically. "Good! But for now, it's past his bed time." She turned away and carried Jack into her home, cooing "Yes it is! It's past your bedtime!"

Tooth gave Jack a bath, making sure to give him plenty of bubble soap, and then dressed him in some soft pajamas she conjured before placing him into a tiny hammock she had made by tying a bed sheet between two pillars of her house. Covering him up with a warm blanket, she paused for a moment, just looking at him. He stared back up at her, his large blue eyes full of trust and love. Before she knew what she was doing, Tooth leaned down and planted a kiss on Jack's cheek.

"Good night, Jack," she whispered.

Turning away to flutter back to her own room, she stopped in shock when one word came out of Jack's mouth behind her.

"Mama."

She hovered there for a moment, unsure of what to think. Then a soft smile crept over her face, and a tear ran down her cheek. Going back to the makeshift cradle, she picked Jack up once again. The child could sleep in her room, she decided. Her child. Her son.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter Five

Nine days had passed since the accident when North finally stepped back from his machine, wiped away the sweat and grease from his forehead, and smiled in satisfaction. It was ready. Refreshing himself with a glass of milk, he left his workroom and activated the Northern Lights to summon the other Guardians.

Tooth was flying around Tooth Palace, inspecting the work her smaller fairies were doing, Jack held in her arms. Even her new son was not enough to make the Tooth Fairy shirk her responsibilities, though she made sure to take him everywhere she went.

"Very good, Baby Tooth!" she congratulated her second in command. Ever since Baby Tooth had helped Jack in the fight against Pitch three years ago, Tooth had made her second in command at Tooth Palace. No, no! Tooth shook her head to clear it of those thoughts. She would not, would not, _would not_, think about that. The very thought of her son going up against Pitch like that made her feel sick to her stomach. No, this time his life would be different.

She was distracted from her thoughts when another small fairy began to poke her arm to get her attention. It pointed towards the sky. Following the small fairy's gaze, Tooth gasped when she recognized the familiar rainbow lights up in the sky, summoning her to the North Pole once again.

"No," she whispered. "Please, no!"

Three hours later, all four Guardians were gathered in North's parlor, having refreshments. Bunnymund, predictably, had a plate piled high with carrots. North was munching on a cookie. Sandy had fallen asleep. Tooth hovered in a corner, as far away from the others as she could get, Jack wrapped in her arms, a frightened expression on her face, though she tried to hide it.

"Well, there's no use making this take longer than it has to," North declared, finishing his cookie. "We're all very busy people, so let's get this done with."

"The quicker the better," Bunnymund agreed.

"Tooth, please give Jack to me," North requested, reaching out to take the baby from her.

Tooth's eyes widened in horror, and she flew backwards into the wall, trying to create more distance between her and the large man. "Wait!" she said suddenly. "I have an idea! Maybe we don't have to change him back!"

"What are you talking about, Tooth?" Bunnymund asked, giving her a strange look. "He's a Guardian, of course we need to change him back!"

"No, hear me out!" she pleaded desperately. "Maybe we should leave him like this, and let him grow up again on his own! I mean, he went for 300 years without a friend, without a family, without anybody!" Under her breath, she added, "Without a mother." Out loud, she continued, "I think it might be good for him to grow up a second time, with a mother and a family that cares about him. That sounds good, don't you think?" She grinned at them, hoping against hope that they would agree with her.

A concerned look came into North's eyes, "Tooth, Jack is an Immortal. It doesn't matter if he's a baby or an adult, he will never age. If we don't turn him back, he will be a child for all eternity."

_And what's so wrong with that?_ Tooth thought.

"Besides, he is a Guardian," North continued. "We need him. The children of the world need him!"

"Well, what if your machine doesn't work?" Tooth asked, desperately scrambling for some reason- _any_ reason- not to give up her new son. "Look at what it did to him the first time. If it messes up again, it may make him so young that he'll disappear completely!"

"The machine works, Tooth. There is nothing to worry about."

"But I…"

"Tooth," North interrupted. "Give me Jack."

"No, no, I think we need to..." Tooth began before North reached out and plucked Jack from her arms. Her spirit instantly shattered, and she crumpled to the floor, a wretched mess of misery and loss.

"North, I…" Bunnymund spoke up, not liking seeing his friend like this.

"It has to be done, Bunny," North interrupted him. "She will be fine."

Nodding his reluctant agreement, Bunnymund followed the large man out of the parlor, giving Tooth one last look. Sandy patted her comfortingly on the back as he floated past, but she didn't respond.

Once they reached the machine's room, North placed the child on the floor where he had originally been found. "Don't worry, Jack! You will soon be back to normal!" he said, taking his place at the control board. The machine whirred to life once again, and the gun swiveled around to face Jack. The loud noise frightened him, and he began to cry.

Back in the parlor, Tooth raised her head when she heard Jack's cries echoing down the hallway. Her sorrow was instantly forgotten, replaced by anger. Her feathers ruffled themselves in her fury, and her wings began to flap, carrying her into the air again. She flew quicker than she had ever flown before, appearing to be nothing but a blue-green blur to the yetis she passed. She burst through the machine room's doors, slammed into North, knocking him away from the controls, and snatched up Jack just in time for him to avoid being struck by the laser.

"He's my son!" she roared at the other Guardians. "He's mine, and you can't have him!"

"Toothania, no!" North cried, picking himself up from the floor.

Without another word, Tooth rocketed skywards, crashing through the glass ceiling, and was gone.


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter Six

Tears flowed from Tooth's eyes like twin rivers as she flew away from the North Pole, Jack clutched tightly to her chest. Ragged sobs tore from her throat as her wings pumped harder than they ever had before, carrying her farther and farther away from her friends. From her life. Jack was crying, but the sound was being drowned out by the cold howling wind that rushed past her ears.

_What have I done?_ She thought to herself in despair.

Tooth flew for almost ten hours before she was forced to stop and rest, and even then she did not want to land. Her guilt was still too close. She needed to escape it. But the failing muscles in her wings forced her to touch down on the top of a cold, snowy mountain.

The icy cold immediately bit into Tooth's skin as the snow soaked her feathers, but she didn't care. She collapsed to her knees, cradling Baby Jack as if he were the most precious thing in the world. Because he _was_ the most precious thing in the world.

Her life was over, she realized as she sat there in the snow. How could she possibly be the Tooth Fairy anymore now that she was on the run from the Guardians themselves? And Jack, he could never be a Guardian again either, stuck in this infantile form as he was. It was over. All over.

Tooth couldn't hold it in any longer, and she wailed her sorrow to the heavens. She didn't know how long she stayed like that, crying like the dear child she held in her arms, and it didn't matter. Nothing mattered anymore. She had wanted to help Jack- to give him the home and the family he'd been without for 300 hundred years. But all she'd done was destroy the life she and the others had helped make for him. In her anger and greed, she had ruined both her life and his. Even the fact that she was now all alone with him like she had wanted didn't comfort her.

_Toothiana_.

Tooth's head shot up at hearing her name. "Who's there?" she asked.

_Look up_.

She titled her head back, looking straight up into the clear night sky. Straight at the full moon, shining like a diamond in the dark night sky.

The Man in the Moon!

_Toothiana, what are you doing?_

"I… I don't know!" Tooth cried back. "I just wanted what was best for Jack, but I've ruined everything!"

_Did you want what was best for Jack, or what seemed best for you?_

"I thought it would be best for both of us," Tooth answered truthfully.

_You are lying to yourself, Toothiana. Think about this without letting your emotions get in the way. Jack is a free spirited man, dependent on no one but himself. Do you really think he'd like this? Being so dependent on you that he cannot hope to survive without your constant presence?_

"No," Tooth whispered, staring down at the child in her arms, who had fallen asleep in the comforting cold of the mountain.

_It is not too late to fix this, Toothiana. Go back to your friends, and let them do what must be done._

Tooth nodded her agreement, but still had one question, "But Manny! I need Jack! I need him so much! He may not need me, but I don't think I can live without him. Not anymore. What can I do?"

_There is more to what Jack feels for you than you realize. Perhaps you should try speaking to him about it._

Suddenly, a small spark of hope ignited within Tooth's heart. Standing up on her legs, almost numb from the cold, she took off once more, heading north.


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter Seven

"Tooth!" North shouted at the top of his lungs as he flew the sleigh through the night.

"Any sign of her yet?" Bunnymund asked, hunkered down on the floor of the sleigh, eyes wide with terror.

"No," North responded. "She could be anywhere by now!"

Sandy leaned over the edge of the sleigh, with big bright pictures of teeth appearing over his head.

"I don't think that's going to help, Sandy," North told him.

Suddenly, the Sandman's eyes widened, and he began pointing off into the distance. Turning back around to look, North gasped as he saw Tooth flying towards them. Veering the sleigh off to the side to avoid hitting her, he slowly coasted to a stop, hovering only a few feet away from Tooth. Her wings were beating weakly, he saw, and her breathing was ragged. In her arms, to his great relief, was Jack, safe and sound. Reaching a hand out, North gently guided the exhausted fairy into the sleigh, and helped her to take a seat.

"Are you all right?" he asked.

"I'm sorry," she whispered, tears falling from her large purple eyes. "I am so sorry."

"It's all right," North comforted her, stroking the feathers on her head. "Everything is all right."

"You told me not to let myself get attached to him like this, but I did anyway," Tooth sobbed weakly. "I'm sorry."

"Bunnymund, take Jack," North ordered. "Tooth needs to rest."

Reaching out, Bunnymund lifted Jack out of Tooth's arms and held him against his soft furry chest. Jack smiled innocently up at him and said, "Bunny!"

Tooth drifted into a deep sleep as North turned the sleigh around towards home.


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter Eight

When Tooth awoke several hours later, she found herself in a very soft bed, covered with a warm blanket. She slowly sat up, and winced as her cramped wings stretched out behind her. Where was she?

"Hey," somebody said. Looking towards where the voice came from, Tooth saw Jack himself standing there, fully grown again, and staff in hand.

Tooth swallowed hard, unsure of what to say. What could she say? There was a troubled look in Jack's eyes, and his mouth curved down in a concerned frown.

"How are you feeling?" he asked.

"A little sore," Tooth answered, her voice quiet with shame.

"I'll bet," Jack responded. "You flew over 2,000 miles last night. You're lucky to still be alive."

Tooth couldn't meet his eye, and stared down at the bed below her. Jack sighed.

"You know, I wasn't able to understand everything that was going on over the past week and a half," he said, "but I remember all of it."

"I'm sorry," Tooth whispered, fresh tears leaking out of her eyes.

"I saw a side of you that I never knew existed," Jack went on.

"I'm sorry, Jack," Tooth said again. "I don't know what came over me last night."

"I mean, nobody has ever treated me that kindly," Jack continued, ignoring the stunned fairy's words. He leaned his staff against the wall and began pacing back and forth across Tooth's room. "Even my own mother never treated me that way." He stopped and looked at Tooth now, "I guess what I'm trying to say is, why? Why did you do all that for me when you could have just as easily left me here for North to take care of? I mean, he caused the accident in the first place, why not make him take care of me?"

"Because…" Tooth mumbled, "because I love you, Jack."

Jack froze at these words, eyes wide with shock.

"I've loved you ever since you helped me win back my teeth and helpers three years ago," she went on. "You're the most compassionate, caring person I've ever met. You know how to make people laugh, even in their darkest moments. But I never knew how to tell you. I guess when I saw you lying there like that, so tiny and helpless, I thought that maybe I could return the favor. I could finally be close to you, even if you weren't old enough to realize what I was feeling for you."

She slammed her fists into the soft mattress in disgust, "But I let it go to my head! I wanted you all to myself, even if you had no say in it. I was so terrified that if I let them turn you back, I wouldn't be able to be close to you anymore. And I ruined everything." Her head sagged, lacking the conviction to look at Jack anymore. "I guess they want me to turn over my title to Baby Tooth now, don't they?"

"You… you love me?"

This wasn't at all what Tooth had expected to hear, and she looked back up at her frosty sweetheart. He was staring at her, blue eyes wide with amazement. Slowly, she nodded.

"And here I thought…" he paused, "I thought you only ever wanted to be friends."

"I thought the same thing about you," Tooth replied, her eyes growing wide as well.

"But you… you actually love me?" Jack sat down on the side of her bed, stunned. Slowly, a smile spread across his face. "I guess there's something I need to tell you too, then."

"What's that?" Tooth asked, her hummingbird heart beating even faster than normal.

Jack reached out and took the Tooth Fairy's hand in his own, and squeezed it with excitement, "Toothiana," he said, "I love you too!"

Suddenly filled with new energy, Tooth's face broke out into the biggest smile of her life, and she lunged forward to wrap Jack in a big lover's hug. She didn't know how long the two of them stayed like that, and she didn't care. All that mattered was that the two of them were now together, forever.

From outside the door, the other three Guardians stood and watched, peering through the crack in the door like peeping toms. Signaling for the other to be very quiet, North tiptoed away from the door, his friends close behind him.

"Well, all's well that ends well, right?" Bunnymund said once they were out of earshot of the door. "But you weren't seriously thinking about firing her, were you?"

"Of course not!" North waved his hand dismissively. Is not even my choice!"

Bunnymund nodded in agreement, and then asked, "But what about your machine? You don't still plan on using it do you?"

"Oh, of course I do!" North laughed.

"But you saw what it does to people," Bunnymund retorted. "How can you still think it has any use?"

"Because you would make very cute baby bunny rabbit!" North roared with laughter, taking off into a jog to get away from the angry Easter Bunny running after him with a boomerang.

The End


End file.
